Trainer Tony Millard labelled Ambitious Dragon a competitor whose dominant victories made him a fan favourite with Hong Kong racegoers after the two-time horse of the year was retired on Thursday.
After being nursed back to the racetrack this season after nearly 18 months on the sidelines due to a tendon injury in his left front leg, the eight-year-old eventually succumbed to a suspensory ligament strain suffered in last month's Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup.
"It was a new injury in his right leg and not a reoccurrence of the old injury, but it was time to call it a day," Millard said. "He is a lovely old horse and I don't want to see him hurt. It's time to move on and show him some respect."
A horse boasting startling acceleration, rare versatility and an uncanny ability to make talented rivals look average, Ambitious Dragon burst onto the scene in 2010-11, rising from Class Four and winning seven of his eight races that term, including the Hong Kong Derby and Audemars Piguet QE II Cup. He again captured horse of the year honours the following season with three wins, two of them at Group One level.
Ambitious Dragon won 13 of his 30 starts, collecting more than HK$58 million in prize money for owner Johnson Lam Pui-hung and was triumphant seven times at the top level.
Millard said what he would remember most about the unassuming looker was his ability to compete at a wide range of distances.
"That was the really amazing part about him, his versatility," Millard said. "He was dominant at Group One level over 1,400m, 1,600m, 1,800m, 2,000m and was second in the Champions & Chater Cup over 2,400m. He had the ability to rise to the occasion, that's what being a champion is all about, and he came back and did it for three straight seasons."
Perhaps Ambitious Dragon's career-defining performance came in the 2012 Hong Kong Mile when the horse, having been beaten by Glorious Days at his previous start in the Jockey Club Mile, suffered a laceration to his right hind leg on race eve.
Millard's staff worked around the clock to have the horse ready for race day, and having passed a veterinary check on race morning he swept past his rivals, including Glorious Days, with his trademark turn of foot.
"That win typified the type of behind the scenes, team effort that we have," said Millard, whose wife Bev was Ambitious Dragon's regular work rider and worked tirelessly to help rehabilitate the horse from injury.
He also made special mention of assistant Carol Yu Wing-sze and Ambitious Dragon's loyal mafoo Cash Lee Tsz-wai.
"He and Cash were inseparable, that horse was his life," Millard said. "One day someone asked Cash, 'Is that your horse?' and he answered, 'No, that's my friend' - I think that sums it up."
